Throughout its 5000 year history, debt has always involved institutions – whether Mesopotamian sacred kingship, Mosaic jubilees, Sharia or Canon Law – that place controls on debt’s potentially catastrophic social consequences. It is only in the current era, writes anthropologist David Graeber, that we have begun to see the creation of the first effective planetary administrative system largely in order to protect the interests of creditors.

War is violence, War was the origin of slavery, War desensitizes the populace (the aggressor and the invaded populace) to a militant policing of every aspect of their lives, to extreme inequality, and to the abrupt deterioration of human rights. War requires debt to be financed and fought. Debt is used by institutions in many violent ways but none more directly violent than war.

In the recently released Costs of War Report the human, social, and financial costs of one specific war are encapsulated. This was a war initiated upon conscious lies and continued with deceit and policies that feign a desire for peace, freedom, and democracy while destroying the communities they claim to be defending. In short this is a large part of what is known as the Neo-Liberal agenda. This agenda is the abdication of all social responsibility by government and private institutions and that responsibility is shifted to the individual and populace. This agenda uses debt as a means of accomplishing it goals. This debt turns human beings into ATM’s for the government and corporations to be used at will. This debt is also used on a larger scale to enslave countries, communities, and systems of social functioning such as public transit, medical care, education, housing, and basic human needs. Under the Neo-Liberal paradigm the sovereignty of any human or country is non-existent, paying the lender at all costs even death is the only imperative. And the lenders are very concentrated. They consist of a few behemoth private banks, the IMF, and the World Bank. These banks form a cartel that works together to accomplish any goal they desire. They are vile, immoral, and unethical institutions that ensure their income through any means not the least of which is touting the immorality of not paying debt. This debt they claim moral ownership over was created out of thin air by them and is abolished among themselves and between large corporations at their leisure but they do not extend this same opportunity to the public at large. It is not hyperbole to say debt is a lie, debt is slavery, and debt is violence. An in-depth analysis of the issue indeed shows that these stark assessments are rational and sound. So what can we the populace do about our own enslavement?

Not a regular visitor to the cinema, in fact the likelihood of my attending more than once a decade is the same as the next pope being a lesbian!

HOWEVER, yesterday I attended a screening of Ken Loach’s “Spirit of ’45” and felt spectacularly uplifted! any uplift is always good BUT politically I have been in a downward spiral for about 10 years.

It gave me hope that I am not alone, fighting is always worth it and by conversing about the opposite of individualism I will not feel alone.

Synopsis (of the film from Dogwoof)

1945 was a pivotal year in British history. The unity that carried Britain through the war allied to the bitter memories of the inter-war years led to a vision of a better society. The spirit of the age was to be our brother’s and our sister’s keeper. Director Ken Loach has used film from Britain’s regional and national archives, alongside sound recordings and contemporary interviews to create a rich political and social narrative. The Spirit of ‘45 hopes to illuminate and celebrate a period of unprecedented community spirit in the UK, the impact of which endured for many years and which may yet be rediscovered today.

We are the power, the only power, unless we are willing to doff our caps and settle for housing/educational/environmental/ health/utility supply poverty, we need to begin the change.

A must for all interested in Textiles, art, craft or life in general – EXHILARATING and WONDERFUL!

WEFT explores the three dimensionality of textile art through installations and sculptural constructions, where contemporary textile artists are currently taking fibre sculpture into new areas. This extraordinary exhibition gives an insight into these current trends, showing how textile art can be considered as another genre of fine art. Exhibits include the work of contributing artists from over 35 countries the world over.

This rich exhibition highlights the manner in which traditional resist techniques such as ikat, tritik, shibori, yuzen and batik, together with the art of embellishment such as embroidery and quilting, are applied to contemporary textile art. The emphasis is on hand-woven and hand-made textiles, as opposed to the machine-made. Hand-made textiles display the skills of the designer and the producer and reflect a long history of artistic and cultural tradition.

The textiles themselves illustrate and display the use of natural yarns and dyes as a means of artistic expression. Natural fibres such as cotton, silk, ramie, abaca, pina, hemp and bark are employed. Colours which derive from natural dye materials such as plant roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, insects and molluscs are also part of this process. The use of natural mordants in the interaction of fixing colour to the cloth is also emphasised in this vibrant exhibition.

Like this:

In the Ukraine, a country where females are victims of sexual trafficking and gender oppression, a new tribe of empowered women is emerging. Calling themselves the “Asgarda”, the women seek complete autonomy from men.

Residing in the Carpathian Mountains, the tribe is comprised of 150 women of varying ages, primarily students, led by 30 year-old Katerina Tarnouska.

Reviving the tribal traditions of the Scythian Amazons of ancient Greek mythology, the Asgarda train in martial arts, and learn life skills and sciences in order to become ideal women.

Little physical documentation existed on the tribe, until recently, when renowned French photographer, Guillaume Herbaut, met the Asgarda back in 2004 in the midst of the Orange Revolution.

(Love the Idea but I worry about the ” ideal women” reference. Amanda)